Online Art Quality VS. IRL Art Thieves A #PSA
Protect Yourself

So ya wanna protect yourself from art thieves but also show Hi-Quality art! Do you worry about DPI or pixel count?

The short answer is: Pixels! Here's a thread on the what why + how + good habits to have:

Abbreviation Key:

DPI - dots per inch(/cm)
PPI - pixels per inch(/cm)
img - image
px - pixel/pixels/pixel count
q - quality
hq/lq - high quality/ low quality
k - shorthand for 1000 (ex. 3k = 3000)

What is DPI/PPI? DPI stands for dots per inch(/cm), + refers to the printed ink dots per inch or in today's case referring to digital art, the # of virtual px per physical in or PPI. /3

DPI is an old term meant specifically for printed quality such as art prints, posters, pins, etc. For this thread tho I will only use the term DPI as that is what most ppl are familiar with. /4

What is pixel/pixel count? Pixels are what make up the digital image itself and it relates to the actual size of the image. A 1000px/sq image @ 300DPI is 3 in/7.62cm while a 3000px/sq image @ 300DPI is 10 in/25.4cm. A 10in image is much easier to steal than a 3in. /5

So what does DPI actually do then?? In terms of art quality? Nothing. That's right. Absolutely nothing. Changing your DPI will not change your digital art or printed image. Only pixel count will do that. /6

So what is it used for? In simple terms it is a variable used to determine the quality and print size of a physical piece in a virtual setting. /7

Despite popular belief DPI has no effect on the resolution or quality of a piece. Digitally or in print form. It is only a way to measure it. /8

So what do pixels do? We already know they determine the size of the canvas (width x height), but they also determine the max quality of a piece both digitally and in physical print. /9

Pixels are what make up the digital piece itself. They account for the resolution both digitally and phys.(going back to PPI which helps you measure how many px will be in each physical in) Any other change in q is caused by outside factors such as printer q or img compression/10

So a quick pop quiz. (Don't worry I did all the work for you) Which of the two images would print into a high-quality 3x3in(7.62x7.62cm) print @ 300 DPI quality? 500x500px @ 300 DPI or 1000x1000px @ 72 DPI? Answer in the images below vvv /11

Let's take one last look at pixels before we move on. Below are images that are 4500 px, 900 px, 1000 px, and 2400px. Can you tell which are which?(no cheating y'all) /12

Are they all high quality images? Yes. But the 2k+ images are far easier to steal, reproduce, and sell than the 1k + below images. /13

Whew that's a lot of information and a lotta words so far.We've only got a little more to go so stay with me.

Here's some kittens before we move on:

Now what do you do with all this info? Well a lot actually. Plan out your digital pieces better/ control the quality of digital art you post to the public/ stop assuming DPI determines image quality, it's alll pixel count digitally, and printer quality + pixels physically /15

When making a new digital piece you can use in/cm and DPI to decide a suitable size if you plan to make physical items from the art. 300 DPI is considered the norm high quality for physical prints (although with modern printers 200 DPI can also achieve the same quality) /16

Now let's build some good artist habits!

These habits will help you to post art that looks clean and crisp and hinder art thieves from selling your art for profit. /17

B/c real talk: there is no way to actually stop art theft other than to catch + report it. But the point is to force them to enlarge the image so that, when printed, will look low quality and pixelated. That will leave it less likely to sell if not unsellable. /18

So if your brain is saying twitter compression!! I have to post the highest quality art I can! First of all go make a private side account. Twitter/IG/Tumblr/ wherever you post your art. Go! Do it right now! Just do it! (or as soon as you finish this thread) /19

Now that you have a private acc that has no followers. You can experiment with px count and img quality. You can test cropping, caption(catch those typos!), close-ups, image previews, etc. so you end up with a good looking post that shows your art best on both pc + mobile /20

Y' know what else you need?

A tester folder! This is where /after/ you have saved your finished art/psd file you can save any size, cropping, or other edits in this separate folder. Use it to test out how your art will look on social media even before it's finished./21

Now for some hard truth sending out 3kpx hq art wont net you more followers it will only invite art thieves for easy profit. You aren't betraying ppl by posting 1kpx version of your art or even 600px version. High Quality art can be postedat 1k pixels or less!/22

If you're really itching to show off the amazing details in your howl's room ghibli redraw though. Add close-up crops of your high detailed img. That shows off the art instead posting a 5kpx full res img of the whole piece on twitter. Use the priv acc to test what looks good! /23

But what about if I draw simplistic art? Go even smaller! You have the advantage of getting the same q across but with less information to process. A simple lemon has less to process than howl's room, so go ahead and post that art as low as 600 pixels! It'll still look HQ. /24

So you're going to try posting art at 1k pixels or less (if you post at 1200px I won't tattle tho) and you have a private acc to test this all out on. What else can you add to help hinder art thieves? A signature or watermark! /25

Get into the habit of adding a signature to your art. Help people associate your art with a name. Before style or content or anything else, a signature will help identify your work. Whether you add it to the bottom corner or work it into your composition itself. You need it. /26

Y'know what else adding a signature or watermark does? Help people uncover art thieves stealing your work so they can let you know and can be reported. Also it's easier to steal art with no sig on it + claim it as their own in turn stealing potential followers from you./27

Okay that's all folks thanks for coming to my TED Talk pls be kind to one another. If you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all. Remember to support each other in the art community not tear each other down. /End

Here are my resources if anyone is still confused about DPI vs. Pixels or just wants to read more in depth.

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/mythdpi.html

https://solarisstudios.com/behind-the-scenes/image-resolution-72-dpi/

http://www.rideau-info.com/photos/whatisdpi.html

https://digital-photography-school.com/image-size-and-resolution-explained-for-print-and-onscreen/

+ Bonus helpful resource https://twitter.com/yvzstudios/status/1257356985688887303?s=20